Recently, we received a phone call from someone who is receiving a 3D TV as a gift.
Panasonic, Samsung, Sony and the hosts of other TV giants are shipping 3D TVs worldwide.
They will offer choices: Plasma or LCD. Personally we like the plasma TV though LCD is cheaper and lighter. There is also the good OLED (organic light emitting diode) TV. Your money is your choice. And everyday, new ones are coming.
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But what is 3D TV? It is nothing but making your TV viewing experience to appear real. It employs techniques of 3D presentation like multi-view capture, stereoscopic capture, 2D with dept, and 3D display to project a view of television into a realistic three-dimensional field.
In other words, when you are watching football and someone shoots the ball, you may feel that the ball is coming out of the TV to hit you. Your room becomes an extension of the TV and you may think that a stone thrown by an actor in the TV will hit your head.
But before you start buying this TV; please note that you must buy an eye glass or goggle to enjoy 3D TV. You need a special glass which you must wear to have the 3D experience. The problem is that any glass is brand dependent because the universal standard is still yet to be developed. Your Panasonic glass may not work in Samsung 3D TV.
When you invite your neighbors to watch a game with you, you must also provide them glasses if they must experience the 3D experience. The problem is that one of those extra glasses could cost up to $150. Imagine having neighbors in your house and everyone is wearing a special eye glass, just to watch a TV. That is it.
It seems that engineers are limited here. It is either Nature does not want us to watch 3D TV that we need a goggle or that the engineering is so crude that we have not figured out how to make it to eliminate the goggle or glass. But there is good news as companies like Samsung recently announced a breakthrough that will enable 3D experience without the goggle.
Though it has not been validated, some people have noted that 3D TV could pose health risks for children and pregnant women.
So before you buy, remember you must budget for the eye glasses as well.